Permobil ramps up U.S. operation

LEBANON, Tenn. - Larry Jackson, a former home medical equipment provider, has climbed the rungs to the top spot at Permobil. The company promoted him last month from vice president and COO to president. At the same time, Permobil is expanding ahead of schedule into unused sections of its new 40,00 square-foot building here. Since Permobil moved the base of its U.S. operation here from Boston in July 2000, it's increased staff by 20% and plans to grow by an additional 50% next year. Festa takes over at CareCentric ATLANTA - John R. Festa, a former executive at American Express and CEO for Buypass Corp and Iterated Systems, will take over as president and CEO of CareCentric, replacing Bruce Dewey. Dewey will become president and CEO of Mestek, the principle investor in CareCentric. "Festa has run at least two other companies and taken them from either a start-up or a turnaround situation and made both very successful," said Mark Kulik, CareCentric's senior v.p. of sales and marketing. "That was a very strong credential coming into this situation here. In other news, CareCentric in October released its Delivery Assistant, a PDA (personal digital assistant) solution that lets delivery personnel scan bar-coded orders, supplies and equipment. MBNA/Invacare open credit lines for HME ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare has partnered with credit card lender MBNA to roll out revolving lines of credit for HME providers. Under the MBNA / Invacare Working Capital program, Invacare's HME provider customers may qualify for unsecured business lines of credit from MBNA for between $5,000 and $100,000. The APR will vary, depending on the applicant's credit profile.